The Girlfriend Experience

The 2009 feature film, 'The Girlfriend Experience' depicted the lifestyle of a young woman, played by Sasha Grey, who worked as a high-end call-girl. The excellent Season 1 (8/10*) of the 2016 TV series related how the same character had entered this profession by moonlighting as an escort while studying law and interning at a big-city legal firm. Riley Keogh's portrayal of Christine won a Golden Globe nomination, with her understated performance showing the psychological cost of pretending affection to entitled executives while selling them her body. Prostitution was a persistent theme in each episode, with Keogh's micro-expressions betraying guarded emotions and inner conflicts as Christine subtly adjusted her persona to please various clients, lovers and employers. The series revealed how involvement in the sex trade derailed her personal life and law career.

By contrast, Season 2 (1/10*) lost any meaningful connection with the prostitution theme as it followed three different protagonists in two separate narratives. In the first, an escort embarked on an obsessive lesbian love affair with a corrupt campaign finance operator. In the second, a former call-girl got marooned in witness protection limbo as she awaited the trial of her gangster husband. The characters failed to generate any sympathy, the plots were neither believable nor interesting, and subtlety was entirely absent.

Season 3 (1/10*) continued the decline of 'The Girlfriend Experience' TV series. The plot proposed the far-fetched idea that a young neuro-science college dropout called Iris would engage in prostitution while under pressure to create a cutting edge AI program. The software was required to mimic human emotions, and Iris believed her charades as an escort could be re-purposed to achieve this end. Unfortunately Iris's commercial sex encounters were as vapid and robotic as her office intrigues. More thought seems to have been given to her wardrobe than the plot, which moved at a snail's pace, neglecting any depiction of a real call-girl's issues. Long before the end, the story had become mind-numbing, pseudo sci-fi tedium.

It's not going to be for everyone. Challenging viewing at times, probably easier to watch alone, as it pushes ones voyeuristic spectrum to the max. I hope that there is a little more story development in future seasons as if it was more of the same I'd probably be switching off but I enjoyed season 1. If you like the movie Shame it's very similar in terms of tone and pace. So it's now up to where they decide to take this.. is there going to be more point or is it just going to be a through the looking glass exercise. Let's see.

Season 1 had a lot of sex, even too much sex to the point that it got repetitive. But what it had was an intriguing probably sociopathic character who tries out being an escort and getting a little more than money from it. Interesting, complex character study, with an actual plot with good secondary characters as well. 7 or sometimes 8 out of 10 for me.

Season 2 is split into two parts with two completely different stories and to be honest I just sped through the first part and didn't watch the second. Still, a lot of sexually explicit scenes and this time more variance with a bisexual escort and her lesbian lover. Gorgeous clothes but rather empty otherwise and not much plot. Still, an attempt was made to explore something psychological between the two lesbian lovers about love and infatuation and power. So 6/10 for first part only.

Season 3 has nearly no sex until you get to like the second half of the show. This is a strategy that could have been refreshing and different, but it exposed some of the weaknesses of the show that we would have been distracted from had there been more sex. Such as a weak plot, one-note acting and lack of overall emotional warmth that a terminally sick parent can't make up for and that increasingly gaudy fashion can't disguise. The pilot gave a strong start and lots of potential in the protagonist's acting ability, but unfortunately her character didn't really develop much farther from there. Or it did, and somehow the writing didn't take us on that journey from novice to expert escort that we needed to be a part of to invest in the protagonist's character. 6/10

While a cold and passionless show in a story about the ultimate form of passion, sex, The Girlfriend Experience does overall offer something unique and I think it's worth checking out even if you have to speed through some repetitive scenes or weak plot. There is something insightful in odd moments.

When I first came across 'The Girlfriend Experience' I didn't know what to expect, I hadn't seen the movie, and reviews were very mixed, some calling it a great show, others commenting on its apparent blandness and cold feel.

When i finally came around to watching it, it really intrigued me, I really enjoyed shows like house of cards, and I thought Paul sparks (who was also in HoC) was great is his role, his cold, more absent way of presenting himself was in my opinion great for his role.

The same goes for Riley Keough, while a lot of others seem to dislike her cold, detached personality as Christine, I found it rather fitting. Someone who gets extremely intimate with strangers would have to be like this in my opinion. Because of this the show is quite realistic, and the admittedly rather lacking story, (there is one, but its not as well developed as it could be) fits with this genre. It really isn't a regular TV- show story, but a look at a life, a life that ís cold and impersonal.

The grey-ish lighting and set design also really works with this detached feel, and the music (or lack thereof) really helps sell the seriousness and loveless acts and conversations.

I really enjoyed watching the show, and although I haven't seen the ending yet, thus far I have really enjoyed the realistic approach to this girls life.

It gave me a feeling comparable to the later seasons of house of cards, or maybe even Mr. Robot, the same dawning, almost depressing, but realistic approach, that, although not everything goes well and ends positively, creates a situation where one can really understand and feel the position the character is in.

Wow l never known her from before this but Riley Keogh was amazing in it I started to watch second season not knowing she was not in it ...when I realised I stopped watching . WTF were they thinking . !!! She was the show.